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Ezra Eden
Esdras Idwal "Ezra" Eden (born March 18th, 1995) is a Welsh professional wrestler signed to American wrestling company Southside-Evolution Pact (SEP'') in their Scottish promotion '''Evolution Wrestling', where he performs on the Virtue brand. Eden was also the company's inaugural Evolution World Champion. Eden also makes appearances outside of SEP for American wrestling promotion Pro Wrestling NEO. Signing with Evolution with no prior live experience and as a relative newcomer to the professional wrestling industry as a whole in early 2018, he immediately challenged Jack Tillman for the CWC Junior Heavyweight Championship in his first match in the company, before winning the company's most prestigious title, Evolution World Championship, in his second ever match within his professional wrestling career. Eden has headlined numerous major events for Evolution, including the company's first ever show in America titled 'Welcome to NYC', where he faced Mark Storm for the Evolution World Championship in a two-out-of-three falls match. Early Life Esdras Idwal Eden was born in Llandudno, Wales on March 18th, 1995 to Arthur and Marie Eden. His name, Esdras, is the Greek spelling of Ezra, while his middle name, Idwal, means "lord of the wall" in Welsh. An only child, Ezra was brought up being taught of the virtues and benefits of hard-work and dedication within his life. He grew up watching his father, a carpenter and builder by trade, and grew to admire him as his role model in life, with Ezra learning the core values that he holds close to his heart to this day from the lessons that his father would teach him when he watched him work. Eden's first venture into the world of professional wrestling was when he began to watch it on television. Watching the high-octane action and colourful characters on the screen mesmerized a young Ezra into becoming a huge professional wrestling fan, doing whatever he could to watch it on television and go to as many live shows as he could. He soon realized that professional wrestling was his dream job and wanted to do whatever it took in order to earn a living out of the sport. This love of professional wrestling is what would get Ezra into the world sports as both a child and as an adult, specifically his love of wrestling. However, football would also become a huge love of Ezra's life. During his time in high school, Ezra would also enroll into both gymnastics and dance classes at the insistence of his mother. He has since incorporated some of the things he learned in those classes into his in-ring style. He would later go on to study physical education at Cardiff University, but dropped out after a year to pursue his professional wrestling dream in Scotland. Professional Wrestling Career Early Career During his time in high school, Ezra would be notified by a teacher of his about a new wrestling school opening up in Llandudno, headed by Jordan "The Llandudno Lion" Callaghan. An Irish immigrant who had settled with his family in Llandudno when he was a child, Callaghan had recently retired from the business and wanted to open his own school to teach Welsh youngsters who were interested in the craft. Deciding that this was his best option, Ezra would enroll in Callaghan's school and begin to learn under the veteran wrestler. A skilled trainee due to his already athletic capabilities, Ezra excelled in the physical aspects of what Callaghan was trying to teach him, which was one of the main focus points that Callaghan had always wanted to achieve when teaching his students. Soon, Ezra became quite proficient in the art of old-school wrestling, but wanted to incorporate far more gymnastic and high-flying elements into his game. Eden would train at Callaghan's dojo for five years, the last one being the most strenuous part due to him having relocated to Cardiff to study for University. This didn't deter him, however, and Ezra began to make the 3hr drive to Cardiff and back every day he was free in order to continue his studies. This would ultimately benefit Eden in the end, as he was introduced by Callaghan to one of the scouts from an up-and-coming promotion in Glasgow, all the way in Scotland, called Evolution Wrestling. They had recently opened under the banner of the massive American wrestling company Championship Wrestling Coalition and wanted to see what Eden could do due to Callaghan's high praise of the boy. After watching Ezra train for around a week or so, they decided to offer him a contract. Taking the time to discuss it with his parents, close friends and Callaghan himself, Ezra decided that he wouldn't get another opportunity quite like the one he held in his hands right now, and decided to move to Glasgow. Evolution Wrestling (2018 - Present) Evolution World Champion Eden would debut as one of the opening acts of Evolution Wrestling's first show, EVOLUTION: Level One, where he faced the reigning CWC Junior Heavyweight Champion, Jack Tillman. CWC had allowed Tillman to go down to Scotland for a match in order for the promotion's ratings to be boosted for their first show. The company's owner, Alan Gunn, decided that he liked what he had seen from Ezra so far from his tapes and took the good word from the scouts who he had sent out to watch the boy, and so decided that Ezra was the one to go out and face Tillman for the chance to become the CWC Junior Heavyweight Champion. Although he didn't beat Tillman, Eden managed to both take Tillman to the very edge and earn the respect from the champion. Before he was allowed to leave the ring, however, Alan Gunn would appear on the ramp once more and commend Eden for his work in the main event. Deciding that Eden was exactly what this place needed, he booked Ezra against Murphy Flynn next week at the company's second show, EVOLUTION II: The Ballad of Count Dankula, in a High Wire match for the chance to become the very first ever Evolution World Champion, a chance Eden would not underestimate. When the time came around for that fateful match, Eden decided that he wouldn't disappoint his new would-be fans and would indeed give them a performance that would take their breaths away. Instead, he would go and shock fans from around the world when he made the decision to embrace his 'free spirit' lifestyle and fling himself from the scaffolding all the way down to take out his opponent, before climbing up once more to unhook the title and become the very first Evolution World Champion, doing it in his second match ever in the company, something that nobody had seen a rookie wrestler do for a very long time. Knowing that he wouldn't get a chance like this ever again, Eden decided that this was his benchmark. He knew he had to be better than this moment, otherwise he would be letting both himself and his fans down. Before he could even have the chance to enjoy his new championship, Eden would become the poster boy for Evolution Wrestling's spot at the global CWC event United We Stand II. Facing off against Elodie Lachapelle and an old foe in Murphy Flynn, Eden would overcome them both to retain his title and cement himself as a proper champion who could both win and defend his title. After this, Eden would go on to try and become one of Evolution's biggest stars, defeating people like the Evolution Loch Ness Champion Amira and Murphy Flynn's stablemate Connor Doyle in his pursuit of cementing himself upon the top of the mountain. He would soon then find his biggest test at Evolution's first supershow, labelled EVOLUTION V: San Junipero, where he would face Eddie Jacobs for the title. It proved to be one of the most difficult fights that Ezra had ever experienced, but he was able to knock off Jacobs and retain the title for a second time. Ezra's biggest test was yet to come, however. Deciding that Evolution was the place that they wanted to call home, the faction known as the Dogs of War made their debuts in Scotland. Entering himself into the tournament to decide Eden's opponent at the next supershow, EVOLUTION X: Play the Game, was one of the Dogs of War's most ruthless members: Qiang Chen. Ripping his way through the competition, Chen would soon be revealed as Eden's opponent to no particular surprise to the champion. However, it would not be Chen that would become Eden's worst rival. Instead, the headlining star and main member of the Dogs of War, the man known as Mark Storm, decided to ambush Eden and stake his own claim to the title. In response to this, Eden would publicly declare his war against all members of the Dogs of War, inviting any member of the faction to come to Evolution at any time so that he could beat them. Following through with this proclamation, Eden would prepare himself to face whatever the Dogs of War would throw at him. Try as he would, Eden was unable to stop the main man and would be handed his first defeat against Mark Storm. However, he would soon level the playing field by defeating Rumble Reyes at the final show before the supershow, named EVOLUTION IX: Football's Coming Home. At EVOLUTION X: Play the Game, Eden was able to, despite the heavy battering that he took throughout the entire match, defeat Qiang Chen, putting him through a pane of glass with the Gates of Eden, and retain his title for a third time, much to the chagrin of Mark Storm. Unable to contain his rage towards Eden any longer, Storm would interrupt the match between Eden and Lisa Seldon at EVOLUTION XI: A Story to Tell and cause a disqualification by physically attacking Eden and causing the referee to end the contest, before setting himself up for a match with Eden once more. The three would then be joined by Michael Kelly, before General Manager Liam Gunn would decide that Eden would defend his championship against the three opponents alongside him at EVOLUTION XV: Made of Money. However, before Ezra had any time to prepare for the four-way match, it was announced that he was also scheduled to face Mark Storm one-on-one for the Evolution World Championship on Night Three of CWC Worldwide II, live from Madison Square Garden. However, their match would be moved to a local show called EVOLUTION: Resurgence, where it would end in a no-contest after both Storm and Eden's shoulders were on the mat for the referee's three count, rendering the match down to a draw. Eden and Storm would face off again at EVOLUTION XV: Made of Money in a fatal four-way match also involving Lisa Seldon and Michael Kelly. It would here where Storm would outsmart Eden, pinning Michael Kelly instead of him to take advantage of the match rules and win the Evolution World Championship, ending Ezra Eden's first ever professional wrestling title reign at 114 days. Absent from the show after Made of Money, Eden would eventually return to Evolution programming at EVOLUTION XVII: Infinite Lives to team with newfound tag team partner Honey against the Evolution tag team champions Anarchy, composed of Carson Campbell and Oliver Quinn, and come out victorious after Eden pinned Quinn following a Crossguard. Eden would later take Mark Storm by surprise in the backstage catering area, attacking him before slamming his head into the floor with a Gates of Eden DDT. Eden would continue this guerrilla warfare against Mark Storm, attacking him behind at EVOLUTION XVIII: We Can Legally Get Shitfaced Now following his successful world title defence against Lisa Seldon. Although Storm would able to successfully counteract Eden and lead to a even brawl, they would be interrupted by General Manager Liam Gunn as he revealed Eden's decision to invoke his rematch clause and that their match at EVOLUTION: Welcome to NYC would be a two-out-of-three falls match. When the day finally came, the two of them clashed in spectacular fashion. Eden scored the first fall after a Gates of Eden DDT, before Storm scored the second following a Tombstone Piledriver through a table. The final fall would occur after Eden would completely no-sell a Stormstrike from Storm, before screaming in his face at the top of his lungs before collapsing from exhaustion. This would allow Storm to easily pick up the final pinfall and finally end the rivalry between the two of them as the victor, retaining the championship and leaving Eden as the loser out of the two of them yet again. War Against GOON SQUAD Following his defeat to Mark Storm and his failure to capture the Evolution World Championship for what would have been the second time in his career, Eden's post-match moment and impromptu celebration with the crowd in New York City would be interrupted by the arrival of fellow Evolution stars Amira Kassouri, Eddie Jacobs, FAUST, Ivy Warner and Scout Mixon, now collectively calling themselves the faction known as the GOON SQUAD. Without mercy or any remorse, they rushed the ring and mauled a defenseless Ezra like animals, making an example of him to the rest of the world watching. General Manager Liam Gunn would bring down the rest of the Evolution locker room to rush the GOON SQUAD away, but not before they had done enough damage to leave Eden comatose and unresponsive in the middle of the ring. Ezra would return at EVOLUTION XXI: It's A Hard Brexit through a live broadcast from an unknown location somewhere within Scotland, where he sent out a direct challenge to the GOON SQUAD faction that had attackedhim in NYC. While he listed off the names of the stars who beat him down and talked about them, Eden made sure to specifically mention one member in particular that he had an issue with: the man known as FAUST. He stated that he would be around for as long as they would and no matter what they did, they would never keep him down. Despite all of his claims and talks, Eden was nowhere to be seen when GOON SQUAD overran the show and took full control from the Gunns. After the show ended and GOON SQUAD's control over the running of the show was confirmed by their hostile takeover of the Evolution social media accounts, Eden noticeably began to take on a much more darker persona than he had ever done before during his time in Evolution over social media and talked heavily in a tweet about 'releasing the secrets and shadows that lurked within the undergrowth' of his Garden of Eden as well as verbally attacking members of GOON SQUAD on his profile, potentially showing us the new side that he has taken on within himself to help combat the GOON SQUAD and return Evolution Wrestling to the ways things were under General Manager Liam Gunn. Confirming the suspicions that many people had about it before the show, Eden would begin his guerrilla warfare campaign against the GOON SQUAD on the next episode of the show. Originally appearing normal on the pre-show, soundly defeating Paralysis despite some offence from the veteran, Eden would later be responsible for locking Zacharias Mitchell into a locker as the former made his way towards a meeting that GOON SQUAD had prepared for themselves within Liam Gunn's now-vacant office. Later, Eden would send out a cryptic promo that acted as his warning to GOON SQUAD following the main event contest between Amira Kassouri and Mark Storm, before descending from the venue's rafters and into the ring with a crowbar, his eyes black with contacts and zombie-like make-up on half of his face. He would attack Kassouri with the crowbar, before squaring up and exchanging threats with FAUST as the show ended. During the Halloween episode of Evolution, Goons Be Creepin', it was revealed that the mysterious figure dressed up as Michael Myers attacking GOON SQUAD throughout the night was, in fact, Ezra Eden and not Liam Gunn as everyone had originally thought it was. This was seen as especially shocking given that Eeden had actually competed on the show as himself earlier on in the night, handily beating Eddie Jacobs with a Gates of Eden. Later, it was announced that Eden was the first member of Liam Gunn's team in the War Games match against GOON SQUAD at Evolution XXX: Love and War. It was soon announced that the match that everyone had been waiting for was going to happen, with Ezra Eden and FAUST finally confirmed to be going one-on-one in a grudge match at EVOLUTION XXV: The Dark Web with no holds barred and nothing stopping them from tearing one another apart in front of everyone EVOLUTION fan in attendance at the show. At the event, Eden would be the one to prevail over FAUST after he would unleash his true inner darkness upon the match and forcefully strangle FAUST with an unhooked ring rope around the corner post. Following that, Eden would drag a near-unconscious FAUST back into the ring and proceed to stomp repeated strikes down on his head until the referee declared him winner by TKO. Following this, it was officially revealed that Eden would team with Lisa Seldon, Tyberius King, Lexi Bennett, his old arch-rival Mark Storm and Evolution's newest official signee Dante Cutler (who Eden had teamed with before to face the team of Jacobs and Kassouri) in the War Games match versus GOON SQUAD and their newest official member: D'Angelo Blackwell, who betrayed Mark Storm after his match with Bennett to join GOON SQUAD and allow Eddie Jacobs to cash in and become Evolution World Champion for the first time in his career. The weeks following Liam Gunn's shocking War Games match revelation would see Evolution Wrestling embark on its first monumental European tour through France, Germany and Spain, a prospect that was completely foreign to Eden, seeing as he had never wrestled outside of the United Kingdom for such an extended length of time before apart from sporadic matches in America for both NEO and a joint show between Evolution and Southside. However, the international matches only proved to be a staging ground for the ever-advancing feud between Eden and FAUST, with the two of them not letting their bad blood lie as they continued to work against one another hard to prove that they were better, with FAUST interrupting and costing Eden matches whilst Ezra became more and more dangerous and brutal whenever he was placing within firing distance of FAUST. The penultimate battle of the conflict between the GOON SQUAD and Evolution would come during the last leg of the Evolution European Tour in Lisbon, at Evolution XXIX: The Home Stretch. There, Ezra would face old friend-turned-rival Amira Kassouri to decide which team had the advantage going into War Games. It would be Eden, however, that would pin Kassouri and gain the advantage for his team leading into War Games. When War Games finally came around at EVOLUTION XXX: Love and War, Ezra gave it his all like nothing else he had done before in his short-lived career. Entering the match as the fourth member of his team, he would instantly make an impact as he scaled the cage and dove off onto all the competitors below, both on his team and as part of the opposition, with a huge swanton bomb. He would continue through the match until, towards the end, he would scale the cage in an attempt to pursue FAUST, before he would run across the length of the cage's top and connect with a huge Edenfall that would take them from the top of the cell and crashing down to the floor outside the cage, thus eliminating the pair of them. Despite this sacrifice, Eden's team would go on to lose the War Games match and Eddie Jacobs would remain Evolution World Champion. Following the match, Evolution General Manager Liam Gunn would reveal that both Ezra Eden and FAUST had been taken to the local hospital immediately after they fell from the top of the cell, both of them sustaining heavy injuries. It was later revealed that Eden had suffered legitimately fractured ribs and that he had been ruled out of active competition for at least the next two weeks. FAUST, on the other hand, escaped with a concussion and whiplash as a result of the incident. The Rage Within Taking to Twitter following the announcement of the first Evolution show of the year, New Year, New Memes, Ezra would talk about how, despite that he wasn't booked for the show, that he would be appearing to talk about the future that he sees before him and how he wanted to reflect on his first successful year within the industry and how Evolution Wrestling as a whole had impacted him. When he arrived to talk on the show, Ezra revealed himself as one of the contenders for the Evolution World Championship once again and stat Ted that he would be the next challenger following the match between the GOON SQUAD contender. Later on in the show, Eden would be seen overlooking the conversation between Big Handsome James and Liam Gunn with some degree of interest, as if he was gauging potential opponents in the future. It was then announced that Eden would face his former War Games teammate and former ally Dante Cutler in a singles match at EVOLUTION XXXII: I Have A Plan, I Just Need Money. Eden would lose to Cutler after having Christ Air reversed into The Creator, but would already set himself up with a match against Big Handsome James for the week after, having sat at ringside for the entirety of his match with Lisa Seldon. That match would come the week after and result in a no contest, with both James and Ezra being counted out by the referee due to a crossbody to the outside by Ezra sending them both through the barricade. Following this, Liam Gunn announced that Ezra would face both James and Lisa in a triple threat match at Project: Supernova to determine who would be the official number one contender to the Evolution World Championship, no matter if it was held by Eddie Jacobs, Amira Kassouri or D'Angelo Blackwell. However, things would take a surprising turn as Ezra would be soundly defeated by Lisa Seldon, who pinned him for the three count and earned herself a title opportunity against Eddie Jacobs at Play the Game Again. This loss would be highlighted by a change in attitude that Ezra would start to exhibit in the following weeks, with Ezra immediately getting in the face to confront Sean Linde, the newest authority figure and associate to Liam Gunn within Evolution Wrestling, and refusing to shake the hand and show respect to his opponent, Devin Hearst, following his loss to the former on the same show. This rage would again be showcased the week after, as Ezra would deliberately tag himself in towards the end of his main event tag team match with Scott Lupinacci, Eddie Jacobs and Lisa Seldon and plant Seldon with the Gates of Eden, despite the fact that Lupinacci had the match virtually won beforehand. He would then refuse to celebrate with Lupinacci and fake out Jacobs by attempting to go for a plancha, before leaving the ring himself to his own applause. Following this, Eden would be teamed with Aria in a tag team gauntlet match to determine which competitors would gain a guaranteed 30+ spot in the Jigsaw Rumble at Play The Game Again. Eden would be rolled up by Scott Lupinacci, however, and be the reason his team was eliminated from the gauntlet. This would infuriate Eden and bring out his new personality even more, with Eden doing something he has never done before in attacking Lupinacci after his elimination and virtually costing him the match, hitting with the Gates of Eden DDT that would later come into play when Dante Cutler and Quinn Jacobs would enter the match and ultimately win it after Eden and Aria's elimination. Ezra would add further humiliation to Lupinacci's current run, however, as he would be the one to pin him and ensure that Scotty was the first entrant into the rumble. Pro Wrestling NEO (2018 - Present) Heaven and Hell On September 30th, 2018, it was announced that Ezra Eden was in talks to join the roster of the newly-returning Pro Wrestling NEO as a competitor. On November 8th, 2018, this deal was confirmed as Eden was announced as one of the participants in the Heaven and Hell tournament, with him kicking off his NEO career in the first episode of NEO's TV show, Volume I, in the main event against Lyza Reyes, where he would unfortunately end up losing and continuing on through the tournament while Lyza would escape it. Following his defeat via disqualification to Tomoyo Hirate and his progression to the second round of the tournament just like Eden, 'The Great British Meme' Will Neilson was announced as Ezra's opponent in the next round of the Heaven and Hell Tournament. The eagerly-anticipated match between the two would eventually take place on January 6th, 2019 at NEO Volume III, where the two would ultimately have the chance to face off and escape the tournament. However, the chance for the two of them to finally wrestle one-on-one was removed by interference by Vanity Fulbright, the All-Mother, with her having attacked Neilson backstage alongside her faction The Church of Oleska. She then mocked Ezra for his loss against Lyza Reyes at Volume I and said that she had given him this victory as he would have lost otherwise. She then began to preach about the Church to Ezra, inviting him to join them, only to be turned down by Eden, before leaving without much of a second glance to him or Neilson. Following this escapade and removing himself from the problems between Will Neilson and The Church of Oleska, Eden would later team with Mariano Fernandez in a losing effort against DeMarcus Gresham and Nina Stokes on Volume V of Pro Wrestling NEO's weekly show, with Stokes pinning Eden following her hitting him with the Amidst the Shadow of Sorrows. Despite this loss, both Fernandez and Eden were added to the championship scramble match at Insurgence, the first NEO supershow, for the Pro Wrestling NEO Grand Prix Championship. In the championship scramble, Eden would showcase his talents in front of one of his largest audiences yet, against some of the best competition he had faced. Despite becoming interim champion three times throughout the match, last-minute interference by Grace Van Beek caused Nora Foley to pin Mariano Fernandez and ultimately become champion after the timer ended, leaving Eden with yet another loss and without a pinfall win in his time in NEO up until this point. Personal Life Eden lives in Glasgow, Scotland and is a fan of Scottish football team Celtic F.C and Welsh football team Cardiff City F.C. He has gained multitudes of tattoos over his lifetime, both big and small in size. He has stated in interviews that he loves to get tattoos whenever possible because he feels that his body is an 'open notebook with stories to tell' and that he would feel 'boring' without them. A devout Roman Catholic Christian since birth, Eden speaks frequently about his faith and how much he takes pride in having it. He often speaks about how close he feels towards God and how he feels like he has a an angel on his shoulder to help him through difficult times and decisions in his life. He feels as though religion has given him a purpose in life and has been one of the core factors in him following his dreams of becoming a professional wrestler instead of working some normal job like society would want him to do. Due to his intense faith, Eden has in fact incorporated his beliefs both into his wrestling gimmick and his body itself. He has a crucifix tattooed on his palm, while he frequently references the 'Garden of Eden' in his wrestling, which is both a reference to his name 'Eden' and the biblical story of Adam and Eve from the Genesis stories. He is also an avid professional football fan, being a supporter of Welsh football team Cardiff City, who are currently in the top tier of English football. Eden has said that he used to be a fan of Chelsea back when he was a child growing up because they were one of the best teams to beat, but instead decided to embrace his roots and go with the team that his father and uncles support, which is Cardiff, around the time he was sixteen because he didn't want to be seen as an 'armchair fan'. On top of all of his other hobbies, Eden is known for his love of skateboarding. He owns numerous skateboards, which he has amassed into a collection, and has multiple signed boards from famous skaters such as Bam Margera, Bob Burnquist, Chris Cole and Danny Way. Following the War Games match at EVOLUTION XXX: Love and War on 18th December 2018, Ezra was rushed to hospital alongside one of his opponents in the match, FAUST, after both Eden and FAUST performed a running blockbuster on the top of the cell, which led to them falling from the top and crashing down hard onto the mats below them used to cushion the hard stone floor of the arena beneath. While the stunt was performed as well the competitors were able to do, Eden was left with fractured ribs and mild neck trauma from the fall and the rough landing, whilst FAUST was diagnosed with a concussion and whiplash. In Wrestling * Finishing Moves ** Crossguard/Edenfall (Running blockbuster) - 2018-present ** Gates of Eden (Hammerlock DDT) - 2018-present * Signature Moves ** Hand of God'' (Spinning backfist)'' - 2018-present ** Pilgrim's Path (Jumping spinning heel kick) - 2018-present ** Christ Air (Moonsault to a standing opponent; arms outstretched to imitate a crucifix) - 2018-present ** Aeternus (Flying scissor kick) - 2018-present ** Eternal Bliss (Backflip over a running opponent into a hurricanrana) - 2018-present ** Freedom Cry (Basement dropkick followed by a leaping elbow drop) - 2018-present ** Lord and Saviour (Palm strike followed by a double foot stomp to the chest) - 2018-present ** Bethlehem (Heel hook) - 2018-present * Theme Songs ** "Falling Down" By Oasis (Amorphous Androgynous Remix) - 2018-present Professional Wrestling Record See full article: Ezra Eden/Statistics Championships and Accomplishments * Evolution Wrestling ** Evolution World Championship (1 time, inaugural)